When designing electrical equipment, it is sometimes necessary to block the operation of devices such as switches, circuit breakers or other equipment. Such blocking devices prohibit the switch, circuit breaker, or other equipment from being operated by blocking the handle of the switch, circuit breaker or other electrical equipment. The blocking devices are electrically interlocked to external electrical pilot devices such as switches, pushbuttons, relays, and the like.
Current technology, which uses a complicated system of deadbolt locks, keys, and electrically operated key traps, tends to be expensive, bulky and labor intensive to install and use.
It is desirable to provide a blocking device that eliminates the need for deadbolt locks, keys and electrically operated key traps, and reduces the complexity of the installation, is more compact than current technology, and reduces overall costs.